Multi-discipline universal CAD library

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a system for facilitating design and production engineering processes in a multi-disciplinary computer aided design environment. The system includes first enterprise including a workstation running a CAD application relating to a first engineering discipline; a second workstation running a CAD application relating to a second engineering discipline; a first storage device coupled to the first workstation; a second storage device coupled to the second workstation; a server executing a multi-discipline universal CAD library application; and a network connection for allowing the workstations and the server to communicate. The system also comprises a communications link to a second enterprise for allowing the second enterprise to communicate with the first enterprise. The system also comprises a commercial database accessible to both enterprises via the communications link. The multi-discipline universal CAD library tool utilizes standard component parts definitions to allow the enterprises to share information relating to CAD processes and data over the web.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a web-based system for facilitatingcomputer-aided design activities, and more particularly, the presentinvention relates to a web-based system for facilitatingmulti-disciplinary collaboration activities related to computer-aideddesign (CAD) processes.

Coordinating the engineering processes involving multiple CADdisciplines requires much planning. For example, in a typicalelectromechanical product design system, engineering processes areseparately carried out in parallel by electrical and mechanicalengineering disciplines—often in different organizations and/orgeographic locations. Various software tools are available with whichthese engineers can design a product or component; however, these toolsare primarily point solutions directed toward a single discipline (e.g.,electrical, or mechanical design) and are not compatible with oneanother. The software required for each discipline varies dramaticallydue to the unique skills required and data utilized by each discipline.As a result, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers working onthe same component are unable to effectively exchange information orcollaborate on these designs utilizing existing tools. For example, theelectrical designer of circuit assemblies is responsible for determiningplacement of components on a circuit board in the most desirable andeffective manner. Electrical engineers are also responsible for designdecisions affecting signal clarity, timing, input/output interfaces, andcooling/heat matters. Thus, ECAD software must address these functions.The mechanical or packaging engineer, on the other hand, is concernedwith the physical size and shape of the circuit card, method and arearequired to mount the card within an enclosure or assembly, relatedconnectors for the card, optimum airflow determinations for the card andsystem cooling. Thus, MCAD software on the market is designed to assistwith these unique mechanical design functions.

Another reason why the two disciplines have been unable to shareinformation is because of the lack of neutral data formats utilized bythese disciplines; that is, the data stored by each discipline isdefined by that discipline in its unique software format and stored inthat discipline group's database or directory/environment accordingly.The mechanical designers using a common design system are able tocommunicate and collaborate amongst themselves, but it is difficult forthem to make their data available to others due to uncommon units ofmeasurements, naming conventions, etc. This impacts the activities ofthe electrical designers who also define the data they use in a formator convention not recognized by the same disciplines and/or otherdisciplines. In some cases, the transition of data from one area toanother is done by paper drawings which requires total reentry of thedata. The reentry increases costs, as it requires time to complete. Thereentry process also provides the opportunity for error insertion duringthe transcription. This leads to increased product development cycletime for new and modified designs.

To date, there are several de-facto, industry, national andinternational standards available which provide some point solutions.De-facto standards such as AutoCAD Drawing Exchange Format (DXF) andGerber Plotter data format facilitate some geometric data exchange.There are also industry standards such as those from the Institute ofInterconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC) and ElectronicsIndustries Alliance (EIA) which provide some discipline dependent datainterchange. National standards such as Initial Graphics ExchangeSpecification (IGES), a United States CAD/CAM data exchange standard;Intermediate Data Format (IDF), an electrical card/board exchangestandard; and Vereinung Deutsche Automobilindustrie FlachenSchnittstelle (VDAFS), a German neutral file format for the exchange ofsurface geometry, broaden the scope of data exchange to more thangeometry. There are international standards such as Standard GeneralizedMarkup Language (SGML), Electronic Data Interchange Format (EDIF), andthe ISO Standard for the Exchange of Product (STEP) model data whichincrease the data scope and the audience even further.

However, the problem with these standards is that they are pointsolutions and solve only part of the problem. For example, geometricdata standards allow for the transfer of geometry between disciplines,but many properties and annotation get lost. Drawing exchange allows forthe transfer of more information, but still the picture is incomplete.EDIF, IPC and EIA are electrical design-centric solutions which causeloss of analysis, product data management (PDM), and mechanicalinformation. IDF covers MCAD and ECAD functions but does not providecommunication and issue tracking structures required for collaborationand offers little PDM.

As a result of these disparities, current practices for manufacturingenterprises which deal in electrical and mechanical design of circuitboards and other electronic components typically involve a ‘ping pong’approach in which one or more engineering groups transfer a product indesign stage back and forth amongst one another. For example, a typicaldesign scenario may be described as follows:

An electrical card/printed circuit board (PCB) design starts in themechanical CAD system where the overall size and shape are modeled. Theboard outline is modeled and critical components (such as LED's thatmust be aligned with a hole in a casing or board edge connectors orconnector footprints) are pre-placed.

The mechanical designer may also define technology rules and electricalplacement constraints which are represented by the functional areas suchas placement or routing areas, keep in and keep out areas based on thephysical constraints of the enclosure (the printed circuit board (PCB)designer can also define or modify the restrictions).

The board is then transferred to the PCB layout editor which performsplacement of the components indicated by the MCAD designer and allremaining components. Changes can be made over the areas which supportelectrical information. Routing is done to convert the logical net listto a physical wiring of the net list. The design is then passed back tothe mechanical system, where 3D modeling of the board is performed anddefinitions of the annotations for electrical references are provided.

This completed PCB design is used to check for alignment with a slotconnector, as well as to perform interference analysis in order to seeif the board and its components fit with the casing and/or adjacentPCBs.

After interference or fit analysis, modifications of the board may benecessary. In order to correct interferences, the mechanical engineermay either modify or create a placement keep out height and pass thisinformation back to the PCB designer or may directly move the componentsin agreement with the design. A check is performed by mechanicalengineering to determine the level of design integrity before the designis transferred back to the PCB environment where a revised placement androuting process will be performed, and so on.

While a product design project is being transferred back and forthbetween electrical and mechanical engineering groups, providing accuratedata exchange is critical. Many different types and forms of data areutilized in the design process which creates a burden oninter-disciplinary design functions. For example, some types of circuitcards can be populated with components on either side of the card, andin some cases, on both sides of the card. It is quite often the casethat when both sides of the card are used, each side of the card willprovide different design criteria (e.g., keep outs, connectors, etc.).The main areas of inter-disciplinary data exchange typical in theelectromechanical design process include: board outline, card thickness,airflow analysis, mounting hole locations, connector footprint,restricted areas, cooling recommendations, standard component shapes(some with added heatsinks and hole patterns), and placement, all ofwhich are described further herein.

What is needed are neutral data definitions and representations whichcan be used collaboratively by disparate systems. The data definitionsshould not only allow the transfer of information between disciplinesand engineering groups of disparate systems, but should also track theinformation and be able to segregate it into discipline views whilekeeping all of the views related to common meta data which define theoverall product.

SUMMARY

The multi-discipline universal CAD library tool overcomes or alleviatesthe shortcomings of the prior art by providing a system for facilitatingdesign and production engineering processes in a multi-disciplinarycomputer aided design environment. The system comprises

a first enterprise including:

a first workstation running a CAD application relating to a firstengineering discipline; a second workstation running a CAD applicationrelating to a second engineering discipline; a first storage devicecoupled to the first workstation; a second storage device coupled to thesecond workstation; a server; and a network connection for allowing thefirst workstation, the second workstation, and the server tocommunicate; wherein the server executes a multi-discipline universalCAD library application for sharing CAD data relating to component partsand design processes.

The system also includes a communications link to a second enterprisefor allowing the second enterprise to communicate with the firstenterprise and a commercial database accessible to the first and secondenterprises via the communications link. The multi-discipline universalCAD library application facilitates data exchange and collaborationbetween the first and second enterprises by providing an interfacebetween multi-disciplinary and/or disparate CAD applications through theuse of standardization processes and definitions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram of a portion of a network systemupon which the multi-discipline universal CAD library tool isimplemented; and

FIG. 2 is a table representing the data exchange elements utilized bythe multi-discipline universal CAD library tool.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The multi-discipline universal CAD library improves and facilitatescomputer-aided design processes including electronic products andmodules by enabling the integration of disparate electrical andmechanical design data and procedures through its interface and librarymanagement tool.

The multi-discipline universal CAD library tool allows for data exchangeand collaboration between multi-discipline engineering groups where dataformats and/or computer systems are incompatible with one another.Although the invention may facilitate computer aided design for any typeof engineering, this description focuses on electrical and mechanicalgroups for simplification and illustration purposes. In the printedcircuit assembly (PCA) engineering community, data exchange areascapable of being shared via the tool include conversion of board shape,board thickness, airflow analysis data, connector footprints, restrictedareas, cooling recommendations, component shapes and hole patterns(including associated mechanical features such as a heatsink), andcomponent placement described as follows:

Board Outline. The board outline defines the geometric shaperepresentation on the board and includes any cutouts that occur on orwithin the outline. It can be possible that the boards which make up aprinted circuit card could have different outlines/shapes. At present,electronic design automation (EDA) utilizes 2 or 2.5 dimensional shapeinformation for board geometry. Mechanical design automation (MDA)prefers to use boundary representation solids for these shapes.Conversion of board shape will be necessary where design changes affectboard shape.

Card Thickness. Often circuit cards are created with multiple layers.Increasing the number of layers increases the overall board thickness.The thickness of the board must be exchanged. In the EDA environment,this may be represented as a parameter. In the MDA environment, thisinformation will be an inherent property of the solid model.

Airflow Analysis. To perform critical airflow analysis it is oftennecessary to transfer 3D information to an airflow analysis tool. Thistransfer of data takes time and today, in some cases, involves there-input of the data.

Mounting Hole Locations. These are areas which must be reserved for theattachment of the circuit board to the product. The circuit boardattachment is quite often done by using screws and standoffs. The areathat must be reserved may be larger than the hole itself. This isbecause the hardware used in the mounting process is larger than thehole. It is therefore necessary for the main area to be defined usingeither a circle or square. Crosshatch patterns imply the area whichcannot be used for component placement or wiring. The area defined isalso considered as a ‘keep out’.

Connector footprint. The connector footprint consists of two pieces ofinformation. One, the hole pattern which must be drilled in the card toaccommodate the connector's electrical and mechanical connection to theboard. And two, the keep out area for the connector. The hole patternsize/shape are defined using tiny circles. This pattern is quite oftenan industry standard and can be retrieved and used as a template. Thekeep out area is defined by a crosshatched shape.

Restricted Areas. Restricted areas are areas that should not containcomponents and or wiring. There can be varying reasons for theseforbidden areas. Some example reasons are electromagnet interference,radio frequency emissions or mechanical interferences. These types mustbe indicated along with the reason for restriction.

Cooling Recommendations. Circuit cards are quite often cooled by air.The air movement commonly originates from a muffin type fan and movesacross the card. It is therefore important when using cooling devices toknow the air speed and direction. This will help place hotter componentsand to align components and fins of a heat sink properly to providemaximum airflow.

Standard Component Shapes and Hole Patterns. In electronic design, many,if not all, components used are packaged to standard dimensions and holepatterns. It should be possible for shape data to be determined bysimply knowing the package type. Since these shapes are standard, thepart number and package identifier can be used to relay the componentshape between EDA and MDA. At present, EDA utilizes 2 or 2.5 dimensionalshape information. MDA prefers to use boundary representation solids forthese shapes. The component identification can be used to alternatebetween these shapes as models are interchanged.

Placement. Component placement data shall be interchanged. Thisplacement may initially be of just critical components but will evolveover the course of the design to be the full placement of all packagedcomponents.

The universal CAD library tool not only enables MCAD and ECAD systems tocommunicate and collaborate, but also to modify or alter their systemsunilaterally without affecting the partner system because the standardsutilized provide a buffer to the tool. This results in reduced productdevelopment cycle time, minimizes physical prototyping of designcomponents, enables re-use of design data, and improves data integrity.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network system within which the multi-disciplineuniversal CAD library tool may be implemented in a preferred embodimentof the invention. System 100 includes an enterprise 102, comprising anECAD client 104 coupled to a database 109, an MCAD client 108 coupled toa database 110, and a server 112, all of which are in communication withone another via a network connection 114. Clients 104 and 108 may beworkstations such as personal computers, laptops, or other similardevices and each include an input device, a processor, a memory, amonitor or screen, and a modem. Clients 104 and 108 are also operatingsoftware capable of accessing applications stored on server 112,communicating with other clients and peripheral devices in the system,as well as with clients outside of system, either via email software,web browser software, or other similar communications software known inthe art. Client system 104 is running electronic CAD software fordesigning products or components and stores its information in database109. Database 109 also stores component parts definitions used by theECAD software. Similarly, MCAD client system 108 is running mechanicalCAD software for assisting in its engineering functions and stores itsinformation in database 110 which also stores component partsdefinitions used by the MCAD software. Server 112 is running web serversoftware and applications software including the multi-disciplineuniversal CAD library software tool of the present invention. Otherfeatures of enterprise 102 are explained further herein.

Enterprise 122 is configured similar to 102 except that its ECAD andMCAD software applications need not be compatible with those running onclients 104 and 108 of enterprise 102. Any number of clients may beutilized by enterprises 102 and 122, although only four clients 104,108, 124 and 128 are shown in FIG. 1. Also, servers 112 and 132 need notbe separately located from clients 104, 108, 124, and 128 respectively,but clients 104, 108, 124, and 128 may employ server software internallyfor running these applications.

Enterprises 102 and 122 communicate via a network connection such as theInternet. Enterprises 102 and 122 may be divisions of the sameorganization collaborating on the design of a product or may be separateorganizations whereby one of enterprises 102 and 122 is providing CADassistance to the other of enterprises 102 and 122 under an agreement.In this manner, the two enterprises 102, and 122 may be communicatingvia a virtual private network (VPN), extranet connection, or othersimilar network connection known in the art. Enterprise 102 may be anycommercial or non-commercial enterprise engaged in CAD services and maybe an electronics manufacturer.

System 100 also includes library 150 which may be a commercial databasehousing CAD data accessible to either or both of enterprises 102 and122. Services of library 150 may be offered to either or both ofenterprises 102 and 122 by an Applications Service Provider (ASP) undera contractual arrangement. This library 150 may be used by either orboth of enterprises 102 and 122 in order to supplement its existingin-house libraries or databases 109, 110, 129, and 130 respectively. Themulti-discipline universal CAD library application is an interface andlibrary management tool which supports the newly-developed STEP AP210standard (as well as other ECAD/MCAD interchange standards) and ECIXQuickdata (also known as RosettaNet (PIP2A9)) standards. These standardsare incorporated into system 100 and are shown generally at 106, 112,126, and 132. ECIX, or Electronic Component Information eXchangeinitiative was developed by Silicon Integration Initiative, Inc. (Si2),an organization of industry-leading silicon systems and tool companiesfocused on improving productivity and reducing costs in creating andproducing integrated silicon systems. ECIX is a program formed by Si2 toprovide a seamless flow of component information in both computer- andhuman-sensible format from suppliers to end-use customers exploiting thelatest media distribution technologies. As part of this program, Si2developed QuickData as a protocol specification defining rules andmethods to enable a standard way for customers and suppliers tocommunicate in real-time via the Internet. It uses HTTP and CGI Post forprotocol and messaging. QuickData lets engineers drop parts directlyinto schematics, since QuickData provides real-time access toparameterized data on vendors' Web sites. Engineers can quickly find thelatest components and design them directly into products. PartnerInterface Processes, (PIPs), were developed by RosettaNet, a non-profitconsortium of more than two hundred companies, which define businessprocesses between supply chain companies, providing them models anddocuments for the implementation standards. PIPs fit into six Clusters,or groups of core business processes, representing the backbone of thesupply chain. Each cluster is further broken down intoenterprise-oriented processes. PIP2A9′s “Query Electronics ComponentsTechnical Information” allows customers to retrieve data from suppliers'databases; access to EDA software in different formats, includingVerilog, VHDL and TDML. The PIP2A9 specification document, “QueryElectronics Components Technical Information” is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. RosettaNet has adopted ECIX QuickData formatas its protocol standard.

The multi-discipline universal CAD library tool extracts data fromdesign tool datasets, generates PIP2A9 transactions and standard dataexchange (e.g., STEP AP210—Electronic Assembly, Interconnect, andPackaging Design) data structures. The AP210 (or other standard) dataexchange elements are utilized by the multi-discipline universal CADlibrary interface listed in FIG. 2. The information interchanged oraccessed in the electro-mechanical design of printed circuit assembliescomes from three generic sources: MCAD systems 108, 128, ECAD systems104, 124, and libraries such as those stored in databases 109, 110, 129,130, and 150.

The multi-discipline universal CAD library tool uses as input the sourcedataset defined by the MCAD design software running on clients 108 and128 which includes the information from design creation and may befurther constrained by the data exchange elements defined above in FIG.2. The tool's interface provides a mechanism to allow for the populatingof product identification, product structure and engineering change datastructures in standardized format. This information may be user suppliedor, preferably, the information will utilize input datasets from othertools to support the populating of additional entities and attributes asdefined by the standard data exchange specifications.

The multi-discipline universal CAD library tool uses as input the sourcedataset defined by the ECAD design software running on clients 104, 124which includes the information from design creation, placement androuting functions and may be further constrained by the elements definedabove in the data exchange requirements list of FIG. 2. The tool'sinterface provides a mechanism to allow for the populating of productidentification, product structure and engineering change data structuresin STEP or other standard format. This information may be user supplied,or preferably, the input datasets from other tools will be utilized tosupport the populating of additional entities and attributes as definedby the standard data exchange specifications.

As described above, both MCAD and ECAD systems such as clients 104, 108,124, and 128 typically have associated libraries or product modelregistries. These libraries may be stored locally in databases 109, 110,129, 130 or may be a commercial database 150. The tool's interfaceexploits MCAD and ECAD associated libraries and extends them into thevirtual World Wide Web virtual environment through the use of ECIXQuickata/PIP2A9 (TM) procedures. The end result is one virtual libraryaccess for MCAD and ECAD data which will utilize ECIX Quickdata/PIP2A9(TM) as its interface. With little or no extension, this tool'sinterface can be extended beyond its current electronic component intentto provide a generic library interface for any type of component. Theuniversal CAD library tool will accept ECIX Quickdata/PIP2A9 (TM)queries and return the requested component information in the STEPand/or ECIX Quickdata/PIP2A9 (TM) format based on the request responsecontent. STEP format would be used for all geometric information.

The universal CAD library tool may then be used as a homogeneousinterface for interchange-in-place of electrical, mechanical and othercomponent parameters. This would allow for multi-disciplinary systeminterchange of component references without the actual interchange ofthe components themselves. This process is further described herein.

The entities, entity relationships, and attributes contained in theECIX/AP210 data transactions shall be defined by the standardspecifications. The data shall support AP210 or standard informationelements as shown in FIG. 2. Other information elements may be added tothis list as desired by system users with proper authorization. Theformat of the AP210 or standard information when stored in a file shallbe as defined in ISO 10303-21:1994 (Clear Text Encoding of the ExchangeStructure (for STEP)) with all currently applicable corrigenda. Theformat of the AP210 information when stored in XML shall be as definedin ISO 10103-28 (XML representation for Express driven data) with anycurrently applicable corrigenda. Active access to AP210 or standardobjects shall be achieved through XML or through ISO 10103-22 SDAIlanguage bindings (C, C++, IDL or JAVA(TM)).

The architecture of the universal CAD library tool as shown in FIG. 1may be a blind interface in that the ECAD and MCAD system interfaces arecoded to AP210 or other standard interchange formats and PIP2A9 (TM).This would eliminate the need for concurrent mapping sessions, as eachsystem will map its data to these standards.

Each ECAD/MCAD interface should take into account both new inboundinformation and information which is an update to existing designs. Thelatter is more challenging since changes must be detected and interlacedback into the currently stored design on the target system as a newrevision. The actual methods for detecting and interlacing changes willbe left to the individual CAD system interface architects. Preferably,an incoming change is interlaced into an incumbent design as a proposednew version with the absolute minimum loss of information. Therecognition that a change is a perturbation of an existing design may bedone through the standard product identification and engineering changestructures.

Both ECAD and MCAD interfaces will be responsible for their own dataconversions for the sent design and any library components it utilizes.When a system detects a component which is not in its library, itattempts to retrieve the component information through PIP2A9transactions. Where PIP2A9 information is received, the system issuingthe transaction will be responsible for any conversion between thePIP2A9 information and the native library format. If the web library hasno information for the component, a warning will be issued and aplacement for the component shall be recorded so that the componentgeometry can be accurately located when it is available.

It should be noted that the invention is not limited to the design andmanufacturing of printed circuit assemblies but may also be employed inany CAD project. Thus, the implementation of the invention as itpertains to PCAs has been described for purposes of illustration only.

As described above, the present invention can be embodied in the form ofcomputer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing thoseprocesses. The present invention can also be embodied in the form ofcomputer program code containing instructions embodied in tangiblemedia, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any othercomputer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the computer programcode is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes anapparatus for practicing the invention. The present invention can alsobe embodied in the form of computer program code, for example, whetherstored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer,or transmitted over some transmission medium, such as over electricalwiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via electromagneticradiation, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into andexecuted by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicingthe invention. When implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, thecomputer program code segments configure the microprocessor to createspecific logic circuits.

While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, variousmodifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to beunderstood that the present invention has been described by way ofillustration and not limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for facilitating design and productionengineering processes in a multi-disciplinary computer aided designenvironment, comprising: a first enterprise including: a firstworkstation executing a CAD application relating to a first engineeringdiscipline; a second workstation executing a CAD application relating toa second engineering discipline; a server in communication with saidfirst workstation and said second workstation via a network connection;a universal CAD library application executing on said server; and acommunications link to a second enterprise; wherein said universal CAT)library application performs: extracting data from a design tool datasetassociated with a CAD application horn a first engineering discipline;converting said data into a neutral format; and upon accessing said databy a second CAD application, converting said data to a formatrecognizable by a second CAD application from a second engineeringdiscipline, said converting performed by: generating at least one ECIXQuickdata PIP2A9 transaction; and generating standard data exchange datastructures; wherein said at least one ECIX Quickdata PIP2A9 transactionincludes a standardized enterprise-oriented business process, model, andprotocol.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said standard data exchangedata structures comprise STEP AP210 data exchange elements.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising: a link to a vendor's web site viasaid network connection wherein said universal CAD library applicationaccesses component data from said vendor's web site and designs saidcomponent data directly into a CAD design.
 4. The system of claim 1,further comprising a link to a commercial database of componentinformation; wherein said universal CAD library application issues awarning when a component cannot be located in said commercial database;and wherein further, a placement for said component is recorded forsubsequent location of an associated component geometry when saidcomponent becomes available.
 5. A method for facilitating design andproduction engineering processes in a multi-disciplinary computer aideddesign environment over a network connection, comprising: extractingdata from a design tool dataset associated with a CAD application from afirst engineering discipline; converting said data into a neutralformat; and upon accessing said data by a second CAD application,converting said data to a format recognizable by said second CADapplication from a second engineering discipline, said convertingperformed by: generating at least one ECIX Quickdata PIP2A9 transaction;and generating standard data exchange data structures; wherein said atleast one ECIX Quickdata PIP2A9 transaction includes a standardizedenterprise-oriented business process and protocol operable for enablingcommunications between said first enterprise and said second enterprise.6. The method of claim 5, wherein said standard data exchange structurescamp rise STEP AP210 data exchange elements.
 7. The method of claim 6,further comprising: retrieving component information over said from acommercial database when said component information cannot be located insaid design tool dataset; wherein said universal CAD library applicationissues a warning when a component cannot be located in said commercialdatabase; and wherein farther, a placement for said component isrecorded for subsequent location of an associated component geometrywhen said component becomes available.
 8. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising: providing component information to said second engineeringdiscipline resulting from said conversion, said component informationincluding at least one of: product identification; product structure;and engineering change data.
 9. The method of claim 5, farthercomprising: accessing component data from a vendor's web site; andincorporating said component data directly into a CAD design.
 10. Astorage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code coyfacilitating design and production engineering processes in amulti-disciplinary computer aided design environment over a networkconnection, said storage medium including instructions for causing aserver to implement a method comprising: extracting data from a designtool dataset associated with a CAD application from a first engineeringdiscipline; converting said data into a neutral format; and uponaccessing said data by a second CAD application, converting said data toa format recognizable by said second CAD application from a secondengineering discipline, said converting performed by: generating atleast one ECIX Quickdata PIP2A9 transaction; and generating standarddata exchange data structures; wherein said at least one ECIX QuickdataPIP2A9 transaction includes a standardized enterprise-oriented businessprocess and protocol operable for enabling communications between saidfirst enterprise and said second enterprise.
 11. The storage medium ofclaim 10, wherein said standard data exchange structures comprise STEPAP210 data exchange elements.
 12. The storage medium of claim 11,further comprising: retrieving component information over said from acommercial database when said component information cannot be located insaid design tool dataset; wherein said universal CAD library applicationissues a warning when a component cannot be located in said commercialdatabase; and wherein further, a placement for said component isrecorded for subsequent location of an associated component geometrywhen said component becomes available.
 13. The storage medium of claim10, further comprising: providing component informal ion to said secondengineering discipline resulting from said conversion, said componentinformation including at least one of: product identification; productstructure; and engineering change data.
 14. The storage medium of claim10, further comprising: accessing component data from a vendor's website; and incorporating said component data directly into a CAD design.